Love is Eternal
by Anily AKW-DPP
Summary: Years after HRE left, Italy dreams of him after trying so hard not to remember about his first love. Only, it seems like Fate doesn't want the nation to be forgotten…
1. A Faint Memory

Info:

Title: L'amore è Eterno

Alt. Title: Love is Eternal

Genre: Romance, Friendship

Pairings: HRE x Chibitalia/Italy

Summary:

Years after HRE left, Italy dreams of him after trying so hard not to remember about his first love. Only, it seems like Fate doesn't want the nation to be forgotten…

A/N [disclaimer, etc]: Hetalia belongs to Himaruya-san [I hope I spelled that right...] and I, in no way, own it.

Name usage: ...I wasn't sure what to do with the names, I didn't want to use their human names, but at the same time for certain characters [i.e.: HRE] I didn't want to use their literal names. So, since I watch English subs, I'm using the names "Shinsei Roma" and "Italia" when the names are spoken, and suffixes "-san" "-kun" and "-chan" for certain characters. However, for some, it will be their literal names, such as with Austria and Hungary [because Austria and Hungary in Japanese translates into Osutoria and Hangari; there's not much of a difference in the spelling or pronunciation, so I won't be using them. And also because there's no way I'll remember to spell their names like that.] I'll try not to confuse you with which names I'm using ^^;

Future Pairings: I do not know if this will turn into Germany x Italy, seeing as I haven't decided if I want to go with the HRE=Germany theory...

Anyway, enough with this AN. I'm going to work on the first chapter now.

* * *

**Prologue**

"Italia."

That voice… It sounded so familiar... Who was it?

"Italia."

I shook my head, realizing whose voice it sounded like. No, He was long gone… Austria-san and Hungary-san had told me themselves… I was probably just hearing things. It was nothing new- the feeling of wanting Him to return had often lead me to hear and see things that were not there. There was no way that it was Him…

"Italia… Turn around, please… It's me…" The voice sounded sadder now, cracking slightly. "Didn't you miss me?"

I bit my lip as I stopped sweeping the floor with my new broom, Austria-san having replaced it when I had given my old one to Him before he left. "You're gone now… I'm just hearing things…" I said as I tried to convince myself that I was hallucinating, fighting the tears that were threatening to come. "It's just me, Austria-san and Hungary-san now…" I resumed sweeping the floor, forcing myself to think of other things, like pasta.

"Italia, I'm back! I told you I'd be back, didn't I? Please… Turn around- it's me… You're not hearing things, it's me!" The voice persisted. I felt something grab onto my skirt, and I froze once again. "I'm really home this time, Italia!"

"S- Shinsei R-Roma…?" I stuttered, my knuckles turning white as I gripped onto my broom tighter. I bit my lip as I turned around, fully expecting to see my skirt to have been caught by a corner or something else…

"Italia," Black cape, black hat… Blond hair, blue eyes… T-that smile… "I'm home," He spread his arms, smiling brightly at me.

"S- Shinsei Roma!" The tears swelled up at the corners of my eyes, and I grabbed onto his clothes tightly, my broom discarded on the floor. "Shinsei Roma… Shinsei Roma…"

"Italia," He said softly, slowly wrapping his arms around my heaving shoulders. "I told you I'd be back, didn't I?"

I nodded, unable to speak as I let the tears fall down my face. I heard him laugh softly as he patted my back.

"Let's go tell Austria and Hungary that I'm back, Italia,"

I smiled, wiping my eyes dry as he let me go. "Y- yes, Shinsei Roma…" I picked up my broom with one hand, grabbing my friend's hand with the other as we ran through the halls, his laughter echoing around us. I idly remembered that Austria-san would probably yell at me for abandoning my chores and making such a ruckus. I shook my head, laughing along with my friend as we continued to search for Austria-san and Hungary-san.

He was back… He was back, and that was all that mattered.

Chores could wait.


	2. The Paintings

FF has been weird, and wouldn't let me update until now. Plus, there was like a two week period where I was grounded... This chapter also seems a lot shorter than I remember it being.

A/N: I in no way own Hetalia and the characters. Unless I'm mistaken, Hetalia belongs to Himaruya.

Niklas means "People of Victory." I find it fitting, despite being a bit ironic...

Also, there's some German in here... I used Google Translate, so if anyone speaks fluent German and notices that its the wrong translation, please tell me. The translation of the words are said soon after.

Name usage change: The name used might vary depending on who's speaking, but the actual country name will be used outside of speech. Erm... It'll probably make more sense when you read it yourself...

Other warnings: Chance of the characters being OOC. And possibly over use of Italy's "ve" and the "~" key.

and whenever there's a scene/time skip, you'll see "-italia-"

* * *

**Act One**

"Ve…" My eyelids fluttered as the sunlight hit my face as sleep slowly left me. I sat up, looking around as I wondered where I was.

I blinked, my hand going up to my face subconsciously- I pulled back when it came back wet, alarmed. I looked at my fingers, sighing in relief when it didn't come back red.

"Ve… I must have been crying in my sleep…" I whispered, heading over to the bathroom to dry my face. "I wonder why…" I shrugged it off as I pulled on my clothes- time to go visit Germany~!

-italia-

"Doitsu, Doitsu~! Are you home? Ve, Doitsu~!" I stood outside of my friend's house, bouncing on the balls of my feet as I waited for the door to open. "Doitsu, are you awake? Doitsu!" I knocked on the door once again, anxious to see my friend. I waited a while longer, but there was no sound coming from inside or any other sign that my friend was home. I frowned lightly. "Ve, I guess he's not home…"

"Italy-kun?" I turned around, barely keeping my balance; I narrowly avoided dropping the pot of pasta I had made to share with Germany. Japan stood there in a simple white t-shirt and jeans, a jacket in one hand and paper of some sort in the other. "Did you come here to visit Germany-san as well?"

I smiled as my other friend came over, nodding at his question. "Ve~ Nihon, do you know where Doitsu is? He hasn't answered the door, ve…" The Japanese man raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Oh? Germany-san isn't home?" I shook my head. "I see…" He mused, staring at Germany's door. I guess he didn't know where Germany was either…

"Ve," I tilted my head to the side, looking at him. "Nihon, what are those papers for?" I gestured to the best of my ability to the papers in his hand without putting down the pot.

Japan glanced down at his hand, pausing, probably to "think of the proper reaction," before he answered me. "Germany-san found some paintings. He asked me to help him find out who painted them and whom they were of before he hung them up. I have some photocopies of them, if you wish to see them," I nodded energetically, eager to know what Germany had found. Japan was about to show them to me, but he hesitated. "Perhaps we should view these inside,"

"Ve? But Doitsu isn't home," I replied, confused. "The door is locked too, so where will we go?"

"My house is a bit too far, but isn't your house available, Italy-kun?" Japan suggested. "We can go there, and come back to check on Germany-san later,"

I nodded again. "Okay~ Let's go, Nihon!" I began to walk over to my car, pausing when I saw the face of horror on my Japanese friend's face. "Ve, what's wrong, Nihon?"

"Italy-kun… We're not… driving, are we?"

"Ve? Of course we are! I couldn't carry the pot long enough to get here; I made too much, ve…" I paused when my friend's eye twitched in fear. "What's wrong, Nihon? Nihon? Nihon!" I waved my hand in front of his face, struggling to keep the pot in my grip. "Nihon…?"

"A-ah… I- it's nothing… L- let us go, then, hm?" He smiled nervously, shuddering slightly as he started to make his way over to my car.

"Ve…?"

-italia-

After some coaxing to get Japan out of my car, we were now sitting in my living room. Japan still seemed to be shaken, but he finally spread the pictures out on the coffee table so that I could see them.

"These are the paintings Germany-san had requested me to help him with. I've done all I could, but I still have yet to find out who it was that painted these," Japan gestured to the pictures on the left. "The rest, however, seem to be painted by a man named Niklas…" He drifted off as I picked up one of the paintings on the right.

"Ve! These are great, ve~!" I exclaimed in alarm. The particular painting I held was a portrait of a young woman with long brown hair held back with a white bandana. Her eyes were closed in a smile, a light pink tone over her cheeks. She clearly wore a light green maid's outfit, complete with the white apron; if you didn't know that she was a maid, the broom handle in one hand and a pail of water in the other would be a dead give away. The way she was painted made it seem like the painter called her while she was on her way to do her chores. They were probably close friends, maybe more. "Ve, she's very pretty," I smiled, though I wondered why the setting seemed so familiar as I placed it back on the table. "Don't you think so too, Nihon?"

"Hai," Japan smiled as well. "It's simply called 'Maiden Rose,' though I don't know whom this maid is, only that Niklas painted this." I mused over this for a moment.

"Do you think that Niklas loved this woman?" I asked. I picked up another picture and showed it to him. "Ve~ Look, Nihon! Here she is again," This time the maiden, in the same dress, was holding a necklace of pale pink flowers. She was still smiling, but she wasn't in the same setting as the previous picture- she was in a field full of the same flowers as the kind her necklace was made of, and she was kneeling down in the sea of pink. There was no sign of the push broom or pail this time, just the maid and the flowers.

"I believe that one was 'Blumenmeer.' I believe it is German for 'Sea of Flowers,' but I am not certain." He was silent as I went through several more of Niklas' paintings, the maiden in every single one of them in, always smiling. "It does seem that Niklas loved this maiden, doesn't it?"

I nodded, still smiling before I came across a painting that was not like the rest of them. "Ve… This one was by Niklas, ve?" I asked, showing it to Japan as well. Japan nodded, raising an eyebrow questioningly at me. "The maiden… This time she's crying, ve…" It was true- the maiden was on her knees, face buried in her hands, but showing enough to prove that there were tears running down her face. She was in a courtyard of some sort, in the rain, her hair and clothes soaked through and clinging onto her figure. A knocked over pail and discarded broom, as well as a broken string of flowers and stray petals all lay forgotten around her. There were plenty of torn papers on the ground, and I wondered what they once said.

"It's called 'Verlassen,' German for 'Forsaken,' if I'm translating correctly," Japan told me, eying the piece. "According to my research, this was Niklas' final piece. It seems safe to assume that Niklas either stopped painting or died soon after painting this,"

"His final piece?" I repeated, frowning slightly. "All of his paintings look so happy except for this, ve…" Japan nodded in agreement, and I decided to move onto the group of paintings that he had said still had an unknown artist. They weren't as interesting as the ones painted by Niklas, or nearly as good in quality, but they were irking me- why, I wasn't sure. "Nihon, what's this supposed to be?" I pointed at a painting of something pink in what appeared to be a field. It seemed familiar, but I didn't know why.

Japan stared at the picture for a moment before he picked it up and turned it around. He was silent for a few more seconds before he answered. "It appears to be a rabbit of some sort… I'm not certain." He frowned slightly but he placed it back down nevertheless. We sat in silence- save for the occasional "ve" from me- as I continued to sort through the rest of the paintings. I constantly found myself staring at the painting of the pink rabbit and the one of the crying maiden when I let my attention drift.

I blinked as I picked up the final painting. It was a young boy with bright blue eyes and blond hair that was jelled back. He wore a black cape that covered most of his attire; he held an over-sized black hat in his right hand held over his heart, and in the other, the handle of a push broom, much like the one that the maiden in Niklas' paintings held in more than one painting. It wasn't a very good painting, but I was still able to figure that even though the boy was smiling, his eyes were showing how sad he was on the inside.

Needless to say, I was shocked. I felt the paper slip from my hands, but I couldn't comprehend why this boy was so familiar, or why seeing him scared me so much.

"Italy-kun? Are you feeling well?" I vaguely heard Japan's voice through my confusion, feeling him place his hand on my forehead briefly. "Is something the matter?"

I shook my head slightly, still shaken. "Nihon… Who is that boy…?"

"I do not know… Why?"

I didn't answer my friend. Instead, I said a name- a name I hadn't said in centuries, the person almost completely forgotten from my mind…

"S- Shinsei Roma…?"

* * *

End A/N: And so Italy remembers HRE outside of the dream. Also, while the previous chapter was when Italy was still Chibitalia (also before he hit puberty...) this is now modern day, aka he's an adult. That should be all.

Oh, and you know what I realized? The acronym for the story is L.I.E. How odd. Let's just hope that HRE's promise to come back isn't a lie after all.


End file.
